REORGANISED DEFENCE

Evening Post, Volume CXVI, Issue 23, 27 July 1933, Page 10

REORGANISED DEFENCE

(To the Editor.)

Siry—Such a hostile attitude taken up by your Mr. Seddon on the 25th concerning the overhaul of our defence system is,-1 feel, entirely iinjustifiecl. May I have the temerity to quote a well-known saying: "The strong man armed keepeth his house." Mr. Seddou wrote words to the effect that <-jny steps taken in the reorganisation of our defence force would be to the detriment of any disarmament resolutions. This niay be so, but it may be argued' that Great Britain is the only nation that realises her obligations or shows any initiative as far as disarmament conventions are concerned. But we are now below the safety limit in Australia and Newr Zealand,, and are. thinly populated at that.' Better would it have been for Mr. Seddon to view with apprehension the developments _ jfl- the East than the ominous " possibilities of militarism' in a- small country like New .Zealand.—l am, etc., '; * .. i '' 'Pi MACE HUTCHISON. In opposing the views of. correspondents who favour reduction of defence expenditure, G. H. Wilkin writes: "The disarmament; policy, championed by the League of Nations^ has been responsible for thousands, of men being thrown out of work. In 1925 Anierica' was a very prosperous nation; in 1926 things there, as everywhere, started to go wrong. The Washittgtpn, Treaty was signed in the,latter year, limiting naval armaments to the 10,000-ton class. All the major naval armanients had to be abandoned, throwing shipyards by the score idle. . . I, for one, am very pleased to hear that the Government is attempting to reorganise our defence force, thereby speeding up the circulation of money in this Dominion, which means less unemployment and better distribution. The British Government is also awakening to this fact, as evidenced by the news item of a few days ago that £5,500,000 of naval/orders had been placed with the .Clydebank shipbuilding firms, giving them,renewed prosperity."